June 26, 2012

The woman doing the firing is a sharp-profiled, sharp-suited corporate leader who has busted chops in the male-dominated world of construction — “The Devil Wears Prada” and a hard hat. Her name, Helen E. Dragas, even sounds Hollywood...

The woman who was fired — and whose reinstatement students and faculty are rallying behind — is U-Va.’s first female president, Teresa Sullivan. She is a beloved, bespectacled professor and respected scholar in a softer discipline — sociology — and was admired for her quiet advocacy of women and open-door policy toward students. She zips around campus in her Smart car and teaches a sociology class....

It is difficult to understand exactly why Dragas called for Sullivan’s resignation....

That’s why the Queen Bee scenario seems to make so much sense here....

According to a 2010 study by the Workplace Bullying Institute, the Queen Bee is still buzzing over cubicles everywhere.... “In 2007, the woman-on-woman bullying prevalence was 71 percent. Now it is 80 percent. Looks like the American workplace is growing ever more toxic for women, at the hands of women,” the study said.

Read the whole thing, and let's talk about the Queen Bee syndrome.

Is the Queen Bee syndrome a real and serious problem in the workplace today?

Yes. A powerful woman wants to be the The One Woman. It's timeless psychology.

No. Women are devoted to the sisterhood. It's men who oppress women.

Some individuals have a problem with other individuals. Gender stereotypes are obfuscating.

As usual, none of Althouse's options accurately states the contents of my beautiful mind.

Very interesting, my thoughts about "cat fight" came to me as I read the piece. The first comment on the WaPo speaks of cat fight. I come to this comment thread and it's "cat fight" on the first comment. The wisdom of Seinfeld, more than you get from a public education.

I don't see that the sex of the participants is relevant to this story, except that it helps the writer relate to anecdotes she has heard about bitchy woman bosses, and thereby allows her to fulfill her contractual obligations of so many column inches/webhits per month.

If the story were only about what's actually happening, namely philosophical differences of how fast changes should come to the University, would people outside of Virginia link to it? Doubt it.

If Dragas was just a queen bee bullying Sullivan, how'd she get the U. Va. board to go along with firing Sullivan? Are they all bullied women and emasculated men? Maybe, but doubtful.

It's standard practice that personnel "actions" are not discussed publicly, so we may never know the real reason for Sullivan's firing. But, since ye media abhoreth a vacuum, they'll just run columns like this to fill the narrative.

Surprise! Sullivan was fired because she didnt get the job done. She failed. She didnt cut the mustard. Concepts totally alien to the academy but very widespread in the real world which is where she was asked to take UVa.

As usual, none of Althouse's options accurately states the contents of my beautiful mind.

Note that option #4 is self-contradictory. If you vote for option #4, then you are agreeing with option #4. Thus, one of Althouse's options is accurately stating the contents of my beautiful mind. Which contradicts option #4. Oh, the fiendish puzzle that is option #4.

Theresa Sullivan co-authored a book with Elizabeth Warren when both were professors at the University of Texas. Breitbart.com has suggested academic fraud connected to that publication and Breitbart reporter was in contact with U VA when Sullivan was fired. Sounds far fetched but....

But there is also a more men equal part of the equation and it's not all good. It's very interesting the difference between the workplaces. A good mix is healthy.

On UVA, I can't get enough information about this case to see whether this is 'queen bee' or not. Maybe the 'bespeckled' lady is a terrible President. IDK. I don't think it's particularly helpful to label this 'queen bee syndrome' absent any information whatsoever.

Professor Mark Perry argues that Sebastian Thrun's vision for education reform through his new firm, Udacity, is the primary reason for Sullivan getting booted. UVa's board appears to be approaching panic mode with the speed with which elite universities and elite educators are embracing the "free", online education reform movement. The speech Thrun gives in the video is long but compelling.

YoungHegelian said... If Dragas was just a queen bee bullying Sullivan, how'd she get the U. Va. board to go along with firing Sullivan? Are they all bullied women and emasculated men? Maybe, but doubtful.

as I understand it, the board is 3 women and 10 men. All of them are high powered business people. Well able to fend off "bullying"

I have heard that one of the issues is lack of interest by Sullivan in non-traditional cost lowering initiatives.

If the story were only about what's actually happening, namely philosophical differences of how fast changes should come to the University, would people outside of Virginia link to it? Doubt it.

+1, MadMan.

This whole thing is playing out in my back yard, and it's been interesting seeing the community around, but not associated with, UVA (And folks, it's UVA, not U.Va. Pronounced You-Vee-Ay...) reacting with total indifference to the brouhaha. Two competing groups of ultra-elitists, both led by women, collided head on and made a total hash of things. Now it's mostly damage control and face saving. That, and the sharpening of the long knives of vengeance. Things are gonna get uglier at Mr. Jefferson's University before this plays out completely.

The civility bullshit meter has been totally pegged in Charlottesville. Off the Grounds, the rest of us are passing the popcorn, while watching the bubble pop.

From WaPo: "Dragas is the hard-charging executive of a family company, where her word is gospel whether it’s a good or a bad decision. Sullivan comes from the world of academia, where vision and consensus and cohesion are valued."

From UVa Today (emphasis mine): Email from Darden Dean Robert Bruner:"The "philosophical difference of opinion" to which the Rector's announcement refers has to do with the rate of change and progress in the face of long range challenges to the University--the Rector called these "existential threats" or challenges to the existence of the University. Included among these threats are recruitment, compensation for faculty and staff, new technology, and financing. The Rector explained that the Board of Visitors seeks "bold, not incremental change." Evidently, conversations about the rate of change have been ongoing at least since last fall. The Rector said that this action is a call for the development of a compelling vision for the University, followed by the raising and allocation of resources toward that vision."

Shanna, You're correct. In virtually everything, it's all about balance. The infusion of women into the previously male dominated medical profession has made it better. Women in the legal profession have been turned into men w/ boobs, still no balance. And, as I believe we've discussed, the teaching profession has evolved into 80% female[K-12] to its great detriment.

Generally true. Women are allowed to get away with it because they're women. Men have been conditioned not to complain about poor behavior by females, and women have been told that being a bitchy diva is the secret of success.

Really I just find the column poorly written, just sort of phoned in. One woman fires another woman, so let's just bring in some stuff about gender, ask a few questions, but offer no meaningful insight.

For example, she writes "In 2007, the woman-on-woman bullying prevalence was 71 percent. Now it is 80 percent. In the very nest paragraph, she refers to "the myth" of woman on woman scheming," and says that it is dying. Well, if it is dying, it once lived. If it once lived, it is hardly a myth.

I don't understand the dynamic at work here, but it parallels one conservatives have to deal with consistently: a group of progressives love someone for qualities unrelated to their profession (he's black and loves basketball and uses a Blackberry; she's bespectacled and quirky and drives a Smart car!), and when criticisms are made of said individual the progressives ignore those criticisms and start projecting onto the critic. "Surely since we love this professor these criticisms cannot be valid; therefore the fault lies in the critic. Are they racist perhaps? Or perhaps this is a petty expression of female inadequacy projected onto her sisters?"

Maybe it's not Queen Bee Syndrome. Maybe this goofy professor, like Professor Trelawney and a whole host of similarly inadequate professors before her, failed in her professional duties and Dragas did what men do and fired the inadequate worker. Why the hell does the professor's physical appearance and choice of automobile even factor into this? Why is the only important consideration--that she's a "respected scholar"--buried among these superfluous qualities?

Most importantly: why can't a woman work in a position of power without having her ovaries put on display any time she does something insensitive to another female? I mean great goats, one woman fires another and all we hear is how she's like The Devil Wears Prada and she's the Queen Bee and, oh, did you notice she's a girl? She probably even played with Barbies when she was younger--and didn't own a black Barbie! Let's ignore the real story here, which is why Professor Trelawney got fired, and instead take a trip into the dark recesses of Dragas's psychology and personal history. What exactly made her such a fierce bitch?

You also have the woman (Petula Dvorak) who trivializes the dispute between two women. This is a important dispute about accountability. Faculty and students are flocking to support the bespectacled professor because she is mild and weak in holding them accountable. She's willing to continue with the same fluff and bloat just by trimming a little bit off the top. Don't worry, it will grow back.

Now the bespectacled professor has said, in a rabble rousing campus speech, that she will accept reinstatement only if the Rector resigns. ("Rector" is Wahoospeak for "Board Chair.") Wah-hoo-wah! Let's play thermonuclear war!

If the board capitulates to this (or to the toady Governor who "may" ask them to resign--he can't fire them--they might as well turn over the keys to the faculty senate. Make them accountable. Give them full budgetary power. Within five years you will have Athens in America. 21st Century Athens.

Sullivan is no shrinking violet, it wouldn't be so easy to push her out. There's a reason that she's gone so fast, on a hush-hush. Little Petula sets it up as a fight between the evil corporate type and a "beloved, bespectacled" academic. Keep pushing, let's see what's under the rock.

You know, if it was a man firing a man, nobody would care. If it was a "beloved, bespectacled" man who was fired, he must have done some firable thing. The decisive woman refused to protect the good-old-boy. Only a sexist man would fire a woman. Therefore, only a woman could fire a woman.

It's demeaning to both women and UVa to say the firing was a frivolous "Queen Bee" thing. The Queen Bee hired the beloved, bespectacled, German car driving Sociology prof in the first place.

Sullivan was connected to the 1/32 Cherokee woman. Wonder if someone was afraid to open that can of giant worms.

There's no real reporting here, no substantive info. The official "philosophical differences" is substance free but surely a curious reporter could dig and find out what concretely was the new vision and in what way Sullivan was an impediment. Instead we get trendy stereotypes from movies and the "Bullying Institute" and the bias of the reporter without any evidence.

Drill asks "wonder what her politics are..." I assume his question is rhetorical :)

Ordinarily I would suggest Henry the K's aphorism about the politics in academe are so fierce because the stakes are so small. In this case, however, I think the increasing moves to on-line instructions, and the financial situations of modern academe argue that in fact the stakes are huge: institutional survival.

My guess is that the Queen Bee syndrome only happens among conservative women. What are the chances that someone like Elizabeth Warren or Hillary Clinton would be described as acting in a Queen Bee fashion?

Older daughter is a UVA grad and is getting a steady stream of breathless e-mails about this. She graduated at the end of President Casteen's last year and really could care less - though she does find the break from tradition a little disturbing. Those of us who live in the area and aren't connected to the University could pretty much care less than less. And give me a break - no tenured professor is going to resign over this.

Tell us what we REALLY want to know - can UVA beat Tech this year in football?

Two years ago the trustees, known as the board of visitors, hired Ms. Sullivan to rationalize U.Va.'s finances. Alumni giving had been crushed in the downturn, while funding courtesy of Virginia taxpayers has dropped to $8,300 per student from $15,300 in 2000.

But Ms. Sullivan—a sociologist by training—turned out to favor what she called an "incrementalist" approach. As late as this March, she said U.Va. was "pretty lean" and "I worry about getting leaner." Yet administrative spending jumped 68.9% between 2003 and 2009, compared to spending on teaching that rose 42.4% over the same period.

The board and especially chairwoman Helen Dragas also asked Ms. Sullivan to undertake more sweeping reform. They worried U.Va. was falling behind in innovative digital technologies like online learning, and they wanted more accountability in faculty productivity and academic quality.

Here's how Ms. Sullivan interpreted this mandate in a May 2012 memo to the board: "A key strategic initiative of my administration is to implement a budget system that enables multi-year academic strategic planning, incentivizes cross-Grounds activities that will pull together the collective strengths of our schools, and a model that will provide, to the extent possible, long term financial stability for the University."

If you can parse that, you may belong in the U.Va. faculty senate, which passed a no-confidence vote in the board shortly after Ms. Dragas asked for Ms. Sullivan's resignation.

Many universities and colleges (if not all) are going to need to hire a president whose job it will be to lay about him with broadsword and axe for a year or two, then accept a generous buyout against a promise to leave the state and never be heard from again.

I know I know! They're fighting over a MAN! It's a LOVE TRIANGLE! Just like in all the movies! Or maybe it's a modern version and they're LESBIANS and they once dated but now they're fighting over the same WOMAN! And this Dragas woman is probably running a secret criminal enterprise in her basement, one which involves torturing and skinning PUPPIES! That's gotta be it!

"Shanna, You're correct. In virtually everything, it's all about balance. The infusion of women into the previously male dominated medical profession has made it better. Women in the legal profession have been turned into men w/ boobs, still no balance. And, as I believe we've discussed, the teaching profession has evolved into 80% female[K-12] to its great detriment."

Concur. In clerical profession men have been turned into women w/pricks and young men even with a calling can't work the economics.

A pole of a polarity that tries to eliminate its polar opposite eliminates itself. Life is dialectical. Make faction, commit suicide.